He met her gaze at that, his golden eyes wide. “Uncles.”
Ah, maybe that’ll get through to him. He didn’t answer her question, so he either didn’t have children or didn’t want to talk about them.
“Want to see their photo?” she asked.
He jerked his head, and Lottie decided to take that as a nod. So maybe he wasn’t the most talkative—she could deal with introverts. His demeanor was subdued, as if a light had gone out inside him, which was perfectly normal. Maybe the sight of babies would cheer him up. She took her phone out and scrolled through her gallery for a cute photo with both twins.
“Here,” she said, turning the screen toward him. “That’s Aksel in yellow and Elise in blue.”
They were pretty, even though Lottie suspected every mother thought that about her kids. But their toothless smiles were adorable, and Elise had inherited her dimples. Their chubby cheeks were a point of pride for Lottie, because she’d been afraid of how nursing would go after she returned to work. They’d mastered everything beautifully, and the twins were now almost old enough to try solids.
“They’re…” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “You gave them Norwegian names?”
Lottie went to put away the phone, but he grabbed her wrist with one large, warm palm to stare at the photo a moment longer. She glanced at him, at the worried line that appeared between his eyebrows. The screen went dark, and he released her.
“Yeah,” she answered, a tad breathless. The man’s touch had sent a spark through her, and she wasn’t sure what to do with it. “I figured they’d grow up around here, so they’d fit in better that way.”
He frowned at her. “You’re staying in Norway?”
Lottie lifted her eyebrows. “I’ve been here for six years. It’s my home.”
He seemed to ponder that. “And your family?”
She sighed. “My parents live in the US. They’re saving up to come stay here in the summer for a month, maybe more if they can get enough time off work.”
It hadn’t been easy, uprooting her life and moving to the other part of the world, but she’d come to Oslo for a year of study abroad and fell in love with the country. The bureaucracy of moving here hadn’t been pleasant, but she’d managed to stick around. Now, she couldn’t imagine going back to the US. Her life was here, and she wanted her kids to grow up in this beautiful, wild place instead of crowded Seattle where she’d spent most of her childhood.
Eiric watched her closely. “Those papers,” he said. “Can I help?”
She shuffled through them, skimming over the convoluted Norwegian forms. “Hmm. I think I’ll need his death certificate if you have it.”
He pressed his full lips together but nodded.
Okay. At least he was more cooperative than Mikkel.
“Thank you.” She paused, thinking about everything she needed done. “Do you think I could stop by another time to chat with you about your family health history? Dr. Teigland said none of the Siemensens are patients of his, so he’d like to have some sort of idea about any chronic diseases your family might have.”
Eiric barked out a laugh, though the emotion didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, I can imagine.”
Since that was neither a yes or a no, Lottie waited, raising her eyebrows.
He shook his head. “No chronic diseases.”
She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to his answer than he was letting on, but short of launching into full interrogation mode, she wasn’t going to get any answers out of him.
Take it slowly.
At least he was talking to her. Trying to help in his own brusque way. That was something. Mikkel’s brother could be her ally. Maybe in time, she could get to meet his family. The kiddos were still too young to know what they were missing.
That wouldn’t last for long, though. Every day, they grew more aware of their surroundings. Every day they missed out on having a large family. Partly, that was her fault. When she’d learned of her pregnancy, she could have flown back to the States before she was too big to fly. And her belly had beenhuge. The twins had both been big newborns. Considering Eiric, she now knew why: apparently, the family’s genes could be traced back to Viking times.
And yet, she’d decided to remain in Norway, because this was her home. It had been for several years, and she wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
She glanced at the clock on her phone. “I better get going. Thank you for telling me. About Mikkel.”
She stood, and he did as well, looming above her. As she passed him on her way to the hall, she caught a hint of his fragrance, just the scent of his fabric softener and maybe body wash, too subtle to be a cologne.Mm.
Then she shook herself and hurried toward the door. Her sense of smell was still haywire from pregnancy, which was likely why she was attracted to the scent of clean clothes. Anything that didn’t smell like poop was welcome in her life.
